What about the 80% of the population who evacuated? Where are they?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

I would imagine there were a lot who were low to middle class, who packed up the car or truck, went on the road to a hotel/motel and planned to stay for 4-5 days.

What now? Gas is expensive, hotel/motel space is at a premium and there's no way to return.

How are they eating, where are they staying and, with no homes or jobs to return to, what becomes of them? MKJ

[crispini]

1. There are a LOT in Dallas right now

that self-evacuated, made it this far (heading for friends or family) and ran out of funds or gas. There is an informal community relief effort evolving around them. We had shelters set up here the day after it it; a friend of mine has 14 in his house.

But I bet MOST of them are in Baton Rouge.

[Dudley_DUright]

4. The population of Baton Rouge has essentially doubled

due to all the evacuees.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/12555703.htm

[tammywammy]

5. Same here

We have a guy at work who's from there. His family and some friends are living with him right now. At work we're taking in donations and other car dealerships are donating stuff that they can look through. There's probably 20 people living between my co-worker and his brother.

It's more informal, and we're individually trying to help them find part-time jobs in the next month or so, since it'll be so long before they'll be able to go back, if they ever go back.

[NYC]

2. In some places,

and I don't know where, donation dollars are paying hotel bills.

[moc]

3. A lot of them are in Houston and Dallas as well as other parts of the

country staying with friends or family.

The neighbor of a good friend is taking care of 30-40 family members. We were over there this afternoon, seeing how we can help.

Here's one thing I didn't realize. They told me that because of the disruption in services, they have no access to their bank accounts. Can you believe it?

[tammywammy]

8. No access to bank accounts?

Is that only if it was a local bank as opposed to a Bank One or Bank of America? God, I just wonder what else can go wrong for them.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

12. No access to bank services, on the road, no place to stay.

That sounds like a whole other kind of disaster to me. MKJ

[Island Blue]

6. That's a huge part of this story that's not being reported

Sure they are luckier than the folks who were stranded in NO, but they are no doubt EXTREMELY stressed out at this point. Life as they've always known it has ended. They have no idea what to expect next. Hopefully at some point, these stories will also be told.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

14. Even though they escaped the storm, they still lost their homes, jobs, etc

And are on the road, dealing with crazy gas prices and, I'm sure, wondering WTF do I do now?

The humanatarian crisis extends far beyond the Gulf Coast. MKJ

[QC]

7. There's lots here in the Florida panhandle.

Red Cross is putting up temp residences in my town and people are collecting food and clothing. Some of the hotels out at the beach are giving them a break on rooms and a Christian retreat center out in Laguna is letting them stay for free in all 250 of their rooms. People here are being quite generous.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

9. Are hotels housing people for free? Someone posted earlier today...

about calling hotels where evacuees have gone, and offering to pay for their rooms for a time.

Are at least some hotels letting people stay for free?

[Kali]

10. Yeah I was kind of wondering that myself.

This is the group I would belong to - have a vehicle and could get out but the $$$s would run out pretty fast. Then what do you do?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

11. Me, too, that's what made me start to wonder.

Without our income, our situation would become dire pretty quickly. MKJ

[NorCalDem]

13. The true economic hit of this hasn't come yet! n/t